Abstract: The invention relates to a device (11) for stabilising the transport of a material web (12) on the upper face of an air-permeable machine clothing (10), in particular a fibrous web. The device is located on the underside of the machine clothing directly upstream of an intake nip in the direction of travel (17) of the web, said nip being formed by a roll (5) and the machine clothing, and comprises a first negative-pressure zone (19) and at least one vacuum opening (20) that faces essentially in the opposite direction to the direction of travel of the web, communicating with the first negative-pressure zone of the device. This permits the boundary layer (23) of air that is carried along by the underside of the machine clothing to be at least partially sucked from said clothing into the first negative-pressure zone.